Doors and Windows - French Door

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jozly
04-30-02, 08:02 PM
I've installed a set of french doors and I've checked to make sure that they are plumb and level, unfortunately I'm not sure if I've checked correctly since the top edge of one door touches against the center mullion. I noticed that the hinges were not flush with the edge of the door so I repositioned them and this seemed to have made the problem worse. The top two hinges don't seem to close as completely as the lower one. Should I replace the hinges, or is the door not square?

:confused:


resercon
04-30-02, 09:44 PM
First check if the opening is square. The easiest way to do this is measure the distance diangonally from cornor to cornor. If the 2 measurements are equal then the opening is square.

If you're using a level to see if the doors are plumb, then you're doing it when they're open. To check if they're plumb when they're closed, tack a nail on the jamb above and directly between the 2 door. Attach a string to the nail and a weight on the other end of the string. When the string stops moving, you should be able to see which door is not plumb by the string which is plumb.

If the opening is square and the doors are plumb when they're open and not when they're closed, it usually indicates the hinges are binding when closed. The most common cause is the hinge is installed backwards. If you take a hinge off and close them, they should be flush against each other. If you were to open them all the way to where they touch each other, you would see they would not be flush.